Man charged in slaying of Brookfield woman

Woman had taken in man when he was out of work

Marilyn Fay opened her Brookfield home to Steven Kellmann for a period when he was out of work because she believed she could help him, friends say.

Fay, 65, met Kellmann, a 30-year-old with a lengthy arrest record, at the Brookfield Library where she worked part time. Friends and neighbors said they urged her to cut ties with Kellmann, but she said she saw the good in him.

Fay had even bailed him out of jail recently, according to Kellmann's mother.

On Wednesday, Kellmann was accused of killing Fay, whose body was found with multiple stab wounds Monday in her home in the 3300 block of Arthur Avenue. Cook County prosecutors charged Kellmann with first-degree murder and armed robbery. He is scheduled to appear at a bond hearing Thursday in Maywood.

Friends and neighbors said Fay, a retired Chicago Public Schools teacher, met Kellmann about two years ago and that he lived at her home at one point, though no one was certain how long. They said Fay eventually asked him to move out because he had anger management problems, but he would still come around to help landscape the yard and take care of her car.

Kellmann's mother, Linda Henning of Brookfield, said she had called Fay and warned her not to bail her son out of jail because he had been doing drugs and needed to get sober.

Henning said Fay didn't listen. Fay told her that it was important to hear both sides of the story, Henning said.

"I feel sorry for what had happened," Henning said. "But when you tell someone not to do something — that you're inviting trouble — (that person should) ask why."

Kellmann's brother, Randy Kellmann of Brookfield, described him as a generally good and smart man who could turn violent when on drugs.

"When he's sober he's a great person," Randy Kellmann said. "But when the drugs take over, he's a different person."

Chicago police arrested Kellmann and another suspect on Monday at a motel in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood on the city's Southwest Side after police found Fay's 2002 Jeep Cherokee about two blocks away. Prosecutors said the other suspect, a 23-year-old woman from Arlington Heights, has been released.

The Cook County medical examiner's office ruled Fay's death a homicide and determined she died from stab wounds and "asphyxia due to assault."

Court documents show that Kellmann had been arrested for possession of marijuana in 2007 and pleaded guilty to a lesser crime, but then was sentenced to 15 days in jail after violating probation. He was found guilty of stealing more than $300 in goods in 2007. He had been charged several times with battery and other drug possession crimes, but these charges were dismissed or stricken.

"We told (Fay) many times to get rid of him," said neighbor Mary Berkowicz, 68. "She felt sorry for him."

Friend Charlotte Field, 65, of Brookfield said she, too, had warned Fay not to keep in contact with Kellmann.

"After three minutes of talking to him, the hair stood up on the back of my neck," Field said.

Friends said Fay had taught at Chicago Public Schools for 30 years and retired from Ericson Elementary School about three years ago. Those who knew Fay said she loved children and animals, especially her two cats and two dogs.